In general, a wind power generation system refers to a technology for converting a force of wind into a rotating force to produce electric power, and is a system for converting wind energy into mechanical energy, driving a generator, and producing electric power.
Such wind power generation systems are classified into horizontal shaft wind power generation systems and vertical shaft wind power generation systems. The horizontal shaft wind power generation systems show a high efficiency but are significantly influenced by the direction of wind, and the vertical shaft wind power generation systems are not significantly influenced by the direction of wind but the efficiency thereof is not as high as that of the horizontal shaft wind power generation systems. Accordingly, most main businesses related to wind power generation are intensively interested in horizontal shaft wind power generation, and considerably many studies on a method of increasing efficiency of the vertical shaft wind power generation are being conducted. However, a proper measure for increasing the efficiency of a vertical shaft wind power generation system has not been found yet. Meanwhile, the present invention relates to a vertical shaft wind power generation system, and thus a vertical wind power generation system will be described hereinbelow.
The vertical shaft wind power generation system has a technical advantage of utilizing wind blowing from all directions, but it is generally difficult to efficiently generate power because the direction and strength of wind are not constant by using the wind blowing in the atmosphere. Accordingly, various methods for effectively concentrating the direction of wind have been developed in an attempt to solve the problem, and for example, a measure of additionally adding a wind collection pipe structure having guide walls around a vertical shaft wind power turbine such that wind can flow in a constant direction and the speed of wind can be increased.
Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2009-0035884 (Acceleration type wind power generator) discloses a technology in which a wind power generator has a drag type wind power turbine in an interior thereof and a wind collection pipe structure for making the direction of wind constant and increasing the speed of wind at the same time is installed around the wind power turbine such that the efficiency of the vertical shaft wind power turbine can be increased.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-531594 (Wind power turbine having vertical shaft) discloses a technology in which a drag type vertical shaft wind power turbine is provided in the interior of a wind power tower and a wind collection pipe structure for making the direction of wind constant and increasing the speed of wind at the same time is installed around the drag type vertical shaft wind power turbine.
However, each of the wind collection pipes disclosed in the patents is designed such that wind guided to the wind collection pipe directly contacts drag type wind power blades to induce rotation of the wind power blades, in which case it is difficult to consistently generate wind power as the movement of the drag type blades change in the same way according to the change of wind. Furthermore, because the wind having passed through the guide walls directly contacts the drag type blades so that resistance is considerably generated, the configuration is advantageous when the drag type blades are initially started but makes it difficult to effectively generate wind power as it acts as a resistance when the speed of wind is high.
Accordingly, the applicant of the present invention sought a wind power generation tower including a vertical shaft wind power turbine to solve the above-described technical problems.